Trump’s remarks to reporters and Petro’s comments at a post-meeting news conference marked a dramatic tonal shift from weeks earlier, when the two leaders traded barbs and Trump threatened military action, according to the Associated Press.
After meeting for nearly two hours at the White House, Trump told reporters that he thought Petro was “terrific,” calling the engagement “very good.” In the Oval Office, Trump also sought to contextualize earlier criticism by saying, “He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all.”
Petro held a separate news conference after the meeting and said the pair emerged “with a positive and optimistic view.” He said that the discussions began around the theme of “freedom,” framing the start of the engagement as a shared foundation for the talks.
In their conversation, Petro said Trump gave him a red “Make America Great Again” cap, and Petro said he told Trump he wanted to put an “s” on it to make it, “Make (the) Americas Great Again,” a reference to North and South America aligning culturally, economically and historically. Petro also said he invited Trump to Cartagena, describing it as a “cool and beautiful place to live.”
Diplomacy between Washington and Bogotá has been closely tied to drug trafficking cooperation and recent moves connected to Venezuela. Petro and Trump spoke about cooperation in counternarcotics operations, with Petro saying there are parts of Colombia where drug cultivation can be “the only way to make a living” when people lack other options for food and transportation.
Petro said he told Trump, “You need to go after the kingpins,” and described a U.S. and Colombia belief that the “capos” are not only in Colombia but also connected to higher tiers abroad. He said he provided the U.S. president with names.
Petro said the leaders also looked at ways to “reactivate Venezuela,” including energy projects, after a sequence of events that widened tensions between the U.S., Colombia and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump has previously put Colombia on notice following an audacious operation last month that captured Maduro and his wife and sought to bring them to face federal drug conspiracy charges, a move Petro denounced.
The meeting unfolded against a backdrop of strained relations in which Colombia had historically been a U.S. ally on drug enforcement. For about 30 years, the U.S. had worked closely with Colombia to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and support rural economic development, while Colombia also holds a U.S. designation as a major non-NATO ally.
Earlier in the period leading up to the talks, Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on Petro and his family over accusations tied to the global drug trade. The U.S. Treasury Department levied penalties against Petro, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti, and those sanctions had to be waived to allow Petro to travel to Washington.
The sanctions came after the U.S. added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades, and they followed a broader escalation involving U.S. force in the region. Relations also worsened after Trump’s administration carried out military strikes targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, with at least 126 people killed in 36 known strikes, according to the AP report.
Colombian officials said Petro arrived with gifts, including a signature Wounaan indigenous basket from Colombia’s Chocó region for Trump and a handmade gown from indigenous artisans from Nariño for Melania Trump. Trump did not personally greet Petro upon his arrival at the front of the White House, with Petro instead arriving at a side entrance, the AP said.
Before and during the meeting, the two leaders’ public posture had remained sharply divided. Leading up to the talks, Petro continued to criticize Trump, including calling him an “accomplice to genocide” in the Gaza Strip and asserting that the capture of Maduro was a kidnapping, and he also called on Colombians to take to the streets in Bogotá during the White House meeting.
At the White House event itself, Trump gave Petro a copy of his book, “The Art of the Deal,” with a signed inscription reading, “You are great.” Petro later posted a picture of the book on X and wrote ironically in Spanish that he did not understand what Trump meant by the dedication in English.
Suarez reported from Bogotá, Colombia. Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Moriah Balingit contributed to this report.